Reports to: CEO
Start Date: Late March 2017
Compensation: Dependent upon experience – stock option and health benefits included.
Company Vision & Mission
We believe in a food economy that cares about farmers, employees and consumers. Seal the Seasons is a mission-based business that develops rural farming economies. We provide a new channel for rural farmers to market to mainstream markets. The applicant should be incredibly vested in improving our economy and understand the challenges rural farmers face. The applicant’s passion for building a local and transparent food system should show through in all aspects of their work.
Company Description
Seal the Seasons is a mission-based for-profit business that sells locally grown frozen fruit and vegetables. Through partnering with local farm partners, farmer-owned manufacturing, and retail partners, to sell local food year-round through retail and foodservice channels.
Job Summary
Seal the Seasons’ Chief Marketing Officer will lead innovative marketing strategies and brand development, oversee revenue generation and data collection, and drive growth by overseeing customer acquisition and management. He or she will empower marketing staff on the ground, collaborate across departments to ensure consistent branding, and spread our food system nationwide.
What we’re looking for:
- Senior marketing experience in organic or natural focused retail food brands.
- Imaginative, consumer-focused leadership to build, develop and champion our brand strategy within the overall strategic vision of the organization.
- A visionary with a deep understanding of traditional and innovative marketing strategies and a proven track record of creating campaigns and initiatives that will drive and increase revenue.
- An inspiring executive who understands the importance of managing and empowering marketing staff to align around brand and marketing objectives.
- Business acumen beyond marketing, a c-suite executive who’s comfortable discussing strategic and financial strategy with investors.
You will be successful in this position if you can:
- Build out and own the marketing department: hire staff, expand systems, and focus on data-driven hypothesis-based testing
- Envision a better, more equitable food system, communicate your vision across the team, and execute expert business planning with strong bias to action.
- Be resilient: test new ideas, take smart data-driven risks, and learn from results
- Adapt to different communication and leadership styles in the context of collaborative partnership
Establish Key Centers of Excellence:
- Expert Planning & Business Strategy
- Pioneer and implement measurable strategies that will drive hard revenue goals and increase awareness at the national and global levels.
- Partner closely with the CEO to create a solid plan to market our local mission that reflects segmentation, targeting and value proposition development.
- Mobilize the communications team to “get the plan off the page” with efficiency and flexibility measuring results and adjusting the plan to reach aggressive goals quickly.
- Web Presence
- Establish a best in class web presence that drives Seal the Seasons mission, values and awareness
- Evaluate and enhance Seal the Seasons Search Engine Optimization to own key search terms and drive traffic to the site.
- Brand Building and Story Telling
- Continue to develop and strengthen Seal the Seasons unique and compelling voice to build brand awareness, relevance, reputation and esteem among target audiences.
- Ensure that the brand is strong and consistent in every marketing tactic, and that the Seal the Seasons
- story is communicated with drama, creativity and impact.
- Lead the creation/production of inspiring design, content and campaigns that builds the brand and drives sales.
- Rally Seal the Seasons stakeholders (staff, investors, advisers, etc.) around the brand; ensure brand standards are maintained across all channels.
- Social Media
- Lead communications team to create a best in class social media presence that empowers stakeholders to spread the Seal the Seasons brand virally.
- Develop innovative campaigns that increase quality fans and followers and turn them into customers.
- Awareness Building –
- Build awareness so that Seal the Seasons is a leader in our field. Build and leverage connections to ensure that influencers within target industries and demographics know and love Seal the Seasons brand.
- Measure and manage recognition and clout so that Seal the Seasons is recognized for all the right reasons.
Summary of Qualifications:
- Bachelors’ degree required. Masters Degree with a specialization in Marketing preferred.
- 10 years of well-rounded marketing / business development experience in positions of increasing responsibility, with a focus on marketing expansion and identifying emerging market trends.
- 3-5 years of leadership experience with the ability to motivate and provide professional development to a team of 3 direct reports. A hands-on collaborative style of working is a must!
- Experience building brand awareness and support internally
- Thorough knowledge of marketing principles, brand, product and service management, sales and business development; along with a demonstrated track record of success and performance.
- Ability to understand changing market dynamics, translating them into actionable strategies to achieve company objectives.
- Advanced experience working with a variety of traditional and modern marketing and communications functions including: branding and messaging to different target audiences.
- An understanding of all aspects of print material production; development and implementation of social media plans; and working with the press and other related media outlets.
- Knowledge of Microsoft Office and desktop publishing programs, Adobe Creative Suite programs, and an understanding of social media platforms.
Equal Opportunity
Seal the Seasons is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate because of age, race, gender, sexual identity, religion, gender expression, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation, or military history.
